This invention relates to a method of producing as the major matabolite long-chain alpha-hydroxyalkanoic acids from an alpha olefin (1-alkene) having from 10 to 18 carbon atoms by cultivating an adapted microorganism of the Candida lipolytica species in an aqueous nutrient medium containing the alpha olefin as the carbon source.
It is known that when a strain of Candida lipolytica is cultivated in a medium containing an alpha olefin, the yeast can assimilate the alpha olefin with the formation of many metabolites in the culture broth. For example, M. J. Klug et al, Biotechnology and Bioengineering, Vol. XI, Number 3 pages 427-440 (1969) disclose that when Candida lipolytica, strain Phaff, wash grown in a medium containing 1.0% of 1-hexadecene as the sole carbon source, various oxidative intermediates were formed and identified including 1,2-hexadencanediol, 2-hydroxy-hexadecanoic acid, 15-hexadecen-1-ol, 15-hexadecen-2-ol, 15-hexadecenoic acid, 1,2-expoxy-hexadecane, 9, 17-octadecadienoic acid, etc.